Poet Laureate

neophyte becomes laureate briefly

                        POET LAUREATE

There was a lot of resistance to my appointment; 

In fact, you never heard such an outcry.

Some said I was a newcomer to poetry, so, what about experience? Didn’t that count? 

Had I ever written a poem, even?

That was an excellent point, but come ON! 

Everybody’s written a poem.
Poetry is like breathing.
Everybody breathes. Who’s to judge?

Several poets went to bat for me. But,  the detractors held fast

and soon I was being cast, as
An Interloper / even a toper.
(I looked it up in my rhyming dictionary. It’s a drinker.)

Later I was dis-invited to the Poetry Convention which was held in Zwolle, hosted by The ZPS. Of course they served those Zwolle Tamales, (dessert was canned peaches) and and they made speeches.

(It was later discovered that many of the poets who ‘went to bat’ for mister Brown were members of the Dead Poets’ Society.) �" ZPS.)

Reviews

[Robert Haigh]

A wry look at the subject of poetry, and the question: who exactly can call themselves a poet. Well, we can all be poets, even if we don't put much credence in what we write or say. I enjoyed reading this piece! Thank you for sharing!

[Carlos Lorenzo Estrada]

I totally agree with your sentiment. Everyone is a poet whether they know it...or not. Isn't life itself poetry? Would poetry even exist if we didn't? Perhaps, in some other life form or molecule. But we give it aspiration and inspiration. We weep, we rage, we love, and hate. There is poetry in the first breath of a newborn baby, as there is in the final of a dying old man. Thank you Phillip for sharing your work with us.

[Phillip Brown]

i discovered poetry — writing it — recently, so I'm quite in awe of the whole thing. Thanks for commenting, Carlos Lorenzo.